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THE
MODERN PHOTOGRAPHIC PROCESS
Ultimately, the
modern photographic process came about from a
series of refinements and improvements on the
foundations laid by William Fox Talbot.  Photography
became available for the mass-market in 1901 with
the introduction of the Kodak Brownie camera,
and, more importantly, with the industrialisation
of film processing and printing. Very little has
changed in principle since then, though color
film has become the standard, and automatic focus
and automatic exposure. Digital recording of images
is becoming increasingly prevalent, as electronic
sensors become more sensitive and able to provide
definition approaching chemical methods. For the
enthusiast photographer processing black and white
film, little has changed since the introduction
of the 35mm film Leica camera in 1925.
Growth of popular photography has closely paralled
the growth of telephony. The practice of both
prodominately concerns communication with friends
and family. In the U.S., the share of households
with a camera and with a telephone was about 1%
and 2%, respectively, in 1890, 44% and 35%, respectively
in 1938, and 94% for both in 1995. Across this
same period in the U.S., the ratio of residential
telephone minutes to end-user photographs rose
from 31 to 80 from 1890 to 1939, and remained
roughly constant through 1995, when the ratio
was 71 .Since telephone  conversations average
about 150 words per minute, the data indicate
that a picture is associated with about twelve
thousand words of telephone conversation.
"A picture is worth a thousand words"
is a popular English folk saying, variously described
as a Chinese proverb and a saying of a famous
Japanese philosopher. This saying actually arose
from advertisements in a U.S. commercial media
journal in the mid-1920s nevertheless, a close
relationship between pictures and words in the
human process of making sense seems to be an important
and underappreciated aspect of human physiology
and behavior. |
